US ending years of Gaza civic work

For the past eight years the Arab Thought Forum has received the majority of its funding from USAID - from $300,000 to $400,000 a year. But as of February, the Forum, an East Jerusalem think tank that focuses on democracy-building programs, was cut off entirely, and has had no contact since - nor any indication as to whether the funds might be restored.

Abdel Rahman Abu Arafeh, the Forum's executive director, says they were fortunate enough to find other sources of funding to make up for the loss, primarily from European countries and the United Nations. Rather than a financial crisis, he says, it is an "ethical or moral" one.

"It's not just a frustration - the money can be replaced. With the help of American money, we were proud to help develop the concept of democracy in Palestine so that elections could take place and could be fair and free," Mr. Arafeh says.

"I understand the political complications, but democracy is democracy. Maybe it happens I am one of those who is against Hamas, but it's our government now and we have to accept it. With the American and European attitude, we feel as if someone is deciding on our behalf who our government should be, so why have democracy? The first ones not to respect the outcome of our elections are the Americans and the Europeans.

"There is a lot of frustration among the people now. Five years ago, the US was seen as a symbol of democracy and human rights. Everything has been damaged in the last five years, not just with how they are dealing with us, but also what the Americans are doing in Iraq and Guantánamo Bay," he says.

To be sure, the US presence in Palestinian affairs has not evaporated.

US officials continue to make visits to the West Bank, and have been working in recent weeks to boost its role as a provider of humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, the US government pledged it would give $10 million for health needs in the West Bank and Gaza.

But outside of such apolitical assistance, most every other aid project to the Palestinians is under review, giving officials direction to examine, grant by grant, where the money is going and whether it might end up with Hamas.

It also means that US diplomats need to distinguish, perhaps more finely than ever before, to whom they should talk.

"We made a conscious decision: If someone is under the authority of the prime minister, we weren't going to deal with them, regardless of what their affiliation is," the US official says.

"Obviously this limits our relationship with the Palestinians - we used to deal across the board, with a whole range of ministries on a whole range of things. We're not able to do that anymore, which is unfortunate," he says.

Yousef, the prime minister's adviser, says he is hopeful that Western donors, including the US, will consider speaking to Hamas. "We have received some signals that there would be some major shifts, including from the Americans," he says in an interview.

"How are you going to bring democracy to the Middle East if you surround it and make people starve? The way that they're treating our government now is with a lack of respect."

There does appear to be real interest in keeping the doors open to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue - even if through a back door.

During their meeting last week, President Bush told Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he should give peace talks with Abbas a chance - at least until the end of the year. If not, Mr. Bush indicated that the US would support further Israeli moves to go it alone with unilateral withdrawals from occupied territory.

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